ThinkBIG shows film on sex trade

January 22, 2008
Joanna Xu
Stanford Daily

Screening prepares for Feb. conference on womens issues

Zuzu, a prostitute in Burma, recounted her forced abortion in last night’s screening of “Anonymously Yours.”

“My mother pressed stones on my stomach,” the sex-trafficked Burmese girl said in the documentary. “The next day, my stomach hurt on the bus. I told the bus driver to go faster. When I got off the bus, it was coming out. I collected myself and went onto the side to push the rest out. Then, I went home. I was very bloody. But my mother was happy because I could work again.”

Last night’s presentation of “Anonymously Yours” addressed the topic of reproductive health as the third of five films to be featured in the thinkBIG film festival. Together, the films address the four topics of thinkBIG, which also include women and HIV/AIDS; education; and violence against women.

“The purpose of the films is to introduce people to the issues before the actual thinkBIG conference,” said Ciara Segura ‘10, the thinkBIG film festival coordinator. “They put the topics of the conference in [the] perspective of the world.”

Organized by the student group thinkBIG, the film festival is leading up to the thinkBIG conference, which will deal with the issues of international women’s health and human rights. The conference, to be held Feb. 1 through 3, will consist of four panels, each with a keynote speaker and four panelists. The lineup of speakers includes notable individuals including former President of Ireland Mary Robinson.

ThinkBIG’s focus on women’s rights issues is reflected in the film selection process.

“Because of the large number of documentaries dealing with these issues, we narrowed the search by selecting movies with female directors,” Segura said.

Last night’s film, which was filmed clandestinely in the closed-off Southeast Asian state of Burma (Myanmar), portrayed the sex-trafficking and prostitution scene in the region through the stories of four Burmese women.

The film did not hold back in illustrating the severity of the situation, providing statistics that included the fact that 36 percent of girls sold into prostitution are sold by their parents in order to pay off a debt.

Furthermore, trafficked girls have almost no chance of escaping the system due to familial pressure and economic circumstances. One of the women featured in the film opened a center to assist trafficked girls in leaving prostitution but ultimately most of them were forced back, including Zuzu.

The film is only one stage in the complex promotion scheme leading up to the upcoming thinkBIG conference.

“Right now we have over 700 people registered for the conference,” said Laura Carwile ‘08, thinkBIG program director. “This is going to be the biggest student-run conference in Stanford history.”

“This is definitely a once-in-a-Stanford-career opportunity,” Carwile added.

Registration for the conference ends on Jan. 30.